I Hate Her Just Like I Hate That German Chancellor with the Moustache

Under five years of rule by President Vladimir Putin, Russia has been slowly creeping away from the democratic ideals that were expected to be embraced with the fall of the Cold War. The government has been suspected of rigging elections, dominating the media and covertly taking down those individuals it felt threatened by, most notably Russian oil mogul Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was imprisoned last year, and Forbes Moscow Bureau Chief Paul Klebnikov, who was murdered earlier this year.

Today, Putin took his boldest action yet, announcing widespread changes to election procedures that will effectively end any opposition to Putin’s ruling party – essentially removing democracy from Russian politics. Putin is using the recent terrorist atrocities in Russia as the reasoning for the changes, but clearly this consolidation of power has been occurring for a number of years and will only add fuel to the fire of the Chechens, and other nationalist states within Russia, who were opposed to the already stringent policies of the Putin regime.

It’ll be interesting to how the Bush administration (or the future Kerry administration) reacts to the latest move made by Putin. Bush has taken little action in the past four years against Russia despite loads of evidence suggesting the country was moving away from a democratic state. As the Bush administration has made fighting tyranny basically a central tenet of his administration, what will the future hold in dealing with Russia?

Headline Quote Movie of Origin: Curse of the Jade Scorpion
Character: C.W. Briggs
Setting: Woody Allen’s The Curse of the Jade Scorpion details an aging insurance investigator in the 1940s whose struggling to cope with the modernization occurring within his place of employment. The company has enlisted the services of a quality assurance expert, who happens to be female, that is streamlining the organization. His inability to cope with the new procedures forces him into heated exchanges with his female superior and led to the comparison of Hitler, “I hate her just like I hate that German chancellor with the moustache.”
The quote is relevant to this story how?: It’s a quote referring to what amounted to Hitler’s dictatorship, which is the direction being pursued by the Putin regime in Russia.

Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.